Detective VS Robot
by ravented
Summary: [MODERN AU] After you pass away, you're given an option; return to earth artificially, or leave forever. Ten years after her passing, Witiko's new body is programmed and ready for earth once more; with no trace of once ever being human. L's friend has returned to him, but under a different light. Would she stay his companion or become another challenge? Our mysteries begin here...
1. -1: The Death of Witiko

**This is not my first fanfiction, but this is my first on this website! I haven't written for L in a while, but I hope this is alright. Also, I should tell you: I know absolutely nothing about actual robots and programming. So if this pisses anyone off, I'm genuinely sorry, because I totally could be reading about things like that but I know I won't. All I wanted this to be was light-hearted and I don't feel the need to make it so accurate when it's only a fanfiction.**

 **Also, robots should represent Shinigami. This is in modern time, with the addition of these robots. There will be an original mystery element in this, not just them doing what ever. There is a plot!**

 **So keep that in mind!**

She rolled the question over in her head. It was always something she thought about, _like a child_ , she knew, but it was a compelling thought. She couldn't help but ponder on it night after night with her body shivering from the lack of warmth she would produce. The thought of dying was a scary thought, it was one of the things she couldn't mentally grasp. She'd never once come close to death until now, and yes, that scared her horribly.

Of course, Witiko knew in her state that she was to die sooner or later. It hadn't been spoken of, and once L tried to bring it up, he was shot down immediately. But everyone knew. The house became more and more solemn, a turn she didn't think was possible when the house was always so quiet by nature. She was left in her thoughts, thoughts about her past... she shared many moments with her mother and her father... her name meant a lot to her, not something many could say about one's own name. Her parents both died, but that was okay, she would once again return to them for a short period before being brought back to earth.

They spoke of the return she would have. Her soul would leave her body, but her mind never would. It would be taken care of until her body could be replaced for something else. Witiko would forever be of use to the human world as long as she could have her brain taken well care of.

It was an internal attack on the heart, her blood stream, and breathing. It would have an impact on her brain, but not nearly as much as one that specifically targeted it. She was thankful for that.

"...How long would it take for a body to be created, Watari?" Witiko asked slowly, not able to sit up in her bed, but she did seem much more alive than she had in months.

"That depends on how quickly L would like his assistant back," he explained, sitting by her bedside. "If I would be the one recreating your body, it would take many years," he lowered his voice to a near whisper, "and I can't say if L should still be around at that time. It's hard to say, Witiko. But at most, my estimate would be ten years."

The boy with the dark hair perked up in his chair on the other side of her, "I never agreed to any of this, Watari..." his habits started coming through in his frustration. "Witiko really never should have been treated like a robot in the first place, and to put her in the body of one would be against my morals."

Witiko looked at him and held back from smiling, _**Morals?** What Morals?_

"Would it be helpful to have an artificial version when there is another child on the way? There's Near. You specifically told me he surpassed Witiko's own intelligence and creativity. There truly is no point in trying to get her to live forever," L concluded, relaxing a little now that he got that out of him. Well, as relaxed as one could get in his position of constant uneasiness.

"But there is," Witiko piped up, begging him to go along with it. "If Watari could artificially enhance what I already have, wouldn't it be optimal? I've always been by your side, would you like me to leave, L? My original and artificial intelligence combined would be extraordinary."

Before he could consider it, she continued, "The body I'd be placed in; my memories would be completely gone, my habits wouldn't exist, my name would still be Witiko though. I would still be here. My body would be literal armor and there's so much more there could be if you'd just let me live. I can't die yet. Doesn't that go against your ' _morals_?'"

"You know you should yourself, Witiko," the young boy said honestly. "For you to artificially be at my side wouldn't be the same, it'd be wrong to name something like it after yourself."

"But it would be me, L!" Witiko sat up and she knew she wasn't supposed to raise her voice, but it came out anyway. "You don't understand! You would regret it, I know you would! I deserve to stay by your side, whether it's artificial or not, you cannot let me die!"

"I don't want to die yet..." the girl said as she was gently pushed back into her bed. "I want to live. Please consider my choice."

L pressed his thumb to his lips to keep himself from saying any more as she fell back into her shivering sleep. He could only look at her for a second or two before feeling sick. It wasn't right... it just wasn't. There was no possible way for him to feel okay about any of this. For his only friend to die, and then for him to be tortured by a presence that wasn't hers, but dangerously close to it. Did she not have any sympathy for him? However, that would be hard... he hadn't especially shown her sympathy through the years.

He eyed his guardian, Watari, once more before leaving the room. He'd take care of her brain, he knew he would.


	2. 0: Alphabet, Cup

**-** Roughly, it has been ten years, actually, a little over. While this was a new hope for L, it was later a downfall when Witiko was later the name of a stranger rather than friend.

* * *

Living in this world, it really wasn't _that_ odd for someone to be recreated as a "robot." If you were wealthy it was common, actually. It was called a renewal. You'd be given a set of numbers to live by, almost always ten years, then you'd need another renewal. This allowed families and the "robot" itself to be ready when they wanted to finally let go. It was usually only ten years before they wanted no more renewals, and they'd seen all they wanted.

Once a human's brain was stored well and kept healthy, the process of creating a new body would begin. Most families opted for the most expensive route, only replacing parts of their original body to keep them alive longer. This left them with a copy of their actual family members, only, there was more often than not, a problem with the memory of the new robot. Though the brain still held the parts of the brain that held past memories, the neurons never linked up correctly, or at all, and the long-term memories were forgotten.

Watari tried fix this problem by saving her long-term memories, but it failed in the end. And without the money to keep the body healthy and running for ten years, a new body was created for Witiko, designed by Watari himself, with the help of L. Their teamwork proved successful, at least. The body was more rounded than an actual body would be, and was the same height she was when she passed at the age of ten. She was on wheels rather than legs, making it cheaper and much easier for computer-run moving signals. She was still given arms, and they were metal and smooth when they moved, not sharp and quick like robots twenty years prior used to work. Her brain wasn't actually perfectly kept either, it was split into pieces and was able to be accessed by different parts of the robot's insides. Meaning, if she lost her reasoning skills, it wouldn't be the end of the world, because there was a backup for almost every part and another part to her that made up for the loss with an artificial form.

The only real problem that went wrong was that she moved on her own, meaning, somehow her brain and computer had a way of linking up and she would go where she pleased. Watari's only theory to this was it was a malfunction, but a pleasant one. He didn't bother with fixing it.

The links between computer and natural intelligence were enhancing (as she'd said before) to her original state she was previously in. She was near perfect, other than the shortages of power she would have every hour if she wasn't given a new battery (which were quite small, considering her little size already). That, and she would have to be retaught everything from the English language to why the Earth spun. Watari did this purposely though, willing to risk that in order to test how fast she could learn. He'd briefly tested it once before committing to the idea, and he was quite pleased with the results.

Witiko was alive, and it only took twelve years.

There was only one last test she would undergo before L and himself before he'd consider her complete.

"L, I apologize for interrupting," Watari spoke through the speakers of the boy's computer, "but her last tests are going to be run today."

No matter how wrong it was to him, he still was curious. He'd seen many human-to-robot projects, many of them failing completely. He understood Watari's capabilities of inventing however, and wanted to bolt to the room his guardian had confined himself in for years. As he walked, he realized how happy he was. It was wrong, he knew it. But he was so glad that he would be able to see his friend again. His only friend. He hadn't realized how much he'd relied on her opinions and facts for those few years they'd known each other. And when she died, he didn't know if he should have felt sad or not. Of course he missed her speech and looks, but he couldn't let himself become too overcome with sorrow, because there was something in him that wouldn't allow it. Something told him they'd meet one last time. And if they never did, he wouldn't be too let down.

That and, he was twenty-three-years-old by now, and she had the mind of a child so far, Watari informed. Would this be a relationship such as a father-daughter one? It was all too strange to contemplate.

L eyed the robot one last time before she was powered up, yes, all too strange indeed.

The camera on her stomach flickered once to test if it worked, and when it did, the other in her head flickered as well, self testing each part. The individual sensors around the outside of her shell lit up once or twice, moving to test before settling down. Each arm twitched, and as did each finger. Her wheels clicked, and rolled suddenly, stopping themselves at L's feet.

He knelt and stared at his friend, the robot.

"Witiko," was all he said.

The final automatic test ran through, and a beam seemed to go through the tiny cameras before all was silent, and her head nodded.

"Witiko."

Her voice wasn't as feminine as it once was when she was alive, but it was near her original. It was clear to understand, and quite soft. It sent a chill down his spine to hear it once more. It was horrifying, to say the least, but he held his emotion back, solely focusing with whether or not her "mind" would be working.

"Watari, the time it takes her to self-test is over ten seconds," L informed, overly critical over his dead friend. "Also, you've told me she shuts down after an hour. Would the fact that she's restarting so consistently affect her ability to preform?"

"No, it shouldn't. That was something to be tested though," he spoke, beaming down at his two creations. While L wasn't biologically his, he still had trained him to think in the way that he did. Witiko was a creation he was proud of, as well. "I'll leave her to you for the remainder of the day. That should be enough time for her to figure out her surroundings, relationships, and to learn basic English. If you don't mind teaching her... that is?"

The boy sighed, standing to his full height, "I suppose I saw this coming..." he contemplated the idea of teaching her to retrieve foods and bring them to him. It would be helpful... "Remind me what the word is to... summon her."

Watari expected he would ask that. The word he previously used amused L to no end.

"She'll be around you the most, so I figured I'd reset her response to that word. It nearly took an hour, but she will now come to you with whatever word, noise, or visual clue you'd like." L frowned at the refusal to repeat the word.

"Then she will respond to multiple ways of calling for her?" he made sure, impressed by that much. He should have expected that much from Watari though.

"If you can manage to teach it," he smiled, "she'll learn it."

* * *

And so began the day of the detective and the robot.

L set Witiko in front of him, her cameras turning at the movement. She took in every surrounding, scanning and saving it into her files so she knew where everything was. It was automatic. She looked at L, scanning over the dark hair and eyes, pale skin with the contrast of dull circles, the awkward posture and habits meant nothing to her but new information, and she absorbed it like a sponge.

L waited for her patiently, observing. He couldn't help where his mind wandered. Could this robot surpass him someday? He'd spoken about it with Watari on multiple occasions, and with advanced technology, it was near his own thinking abilities. She would never work the same way as him though, he was still and always would be the greatest detective, no matter what technology hit. It wasn't the same quality of L's deductions or predictions, and the way he naturally tested people without them knowing was something a computer could never come to meet the standards of. Yet, with pieces of organic brain fused into a computer with chips and wires and new neurons, it could get so close, it scared him.

It was alarming, truly alarming.

But there was a difference between predicting and testing. He'd test her on his own with his own rules. Under his perspective, this was not Witiko, this was a computer. He'd play the game with a computer, there was no doubt when it would be a challenge for him. After spending the years poring over obvious cases and issues (not that he didn't enjoy solving those cases), it would be interesting to have a challenge.

"Witiko," he said, like asking if her scanning was done. It took nearly two times the time for her to process it than he would take, though she was artificial. That made him feel a bit better.

"Witiko," it responded in the same chilling voice.

He pointed to himself, "Ryuzaki."

Carefully, her information transformed him from just an image to an image with a name, "Ryuzaki," she considered.

He'd come up with a command word to announce that she would begin learning, "Alphabet." He wondered if she would catch on.

"Alphabet," she responded, it was all she knew. She was keeping track of their conversation in an internal log.

L considered a language in his head he should teach her fist, obviously English, but which type of sign language? American would be less obvious and less people would know it or recognize it here, though British would be more commonly used. Perhaps their commands and signals should be consisted of both, but mainly American Sign Language seemed the safer.

The boy knelt down to her, signing the first letter of the alphabet, "A."

He kept the sign up, and she repeated it, "A."

"B."

"B."

"G," he threw in, waiting to see how she would respond.

Her computer had already found and had been following a pattern she was familiar with by prior knowledge. It threw her off, "C." She didn't sign it, instead, she signed _G_.

L saw amusement in this, but fixed her mistake, "C." He repeated the correct sign and correlating letter.

They completed the rest of the alphabet without mistake, and he signed her a few words, to which she would repeat out loud.

L signed, W-I-T-I-K-O.

"Witiko," she said, signing it as well.

"How old are you?" he asked without signing.

She signed the age back, happy to use both words and gestures in response. She didn't seem to have an exact pattern to this, but she signed the number ten anyway. So, she believed she was only ten years old.

"Alphabet. You are one day old, Witiko," he told her, not willing to have her know so much about the original her.

"Correct," she went along with it if he was. She began following her prior knowledge of looking up to him.

"Could you sign my name, Witiko?"

 _L_ , she signed.

L frowned, it was true, but he hadn't told her that much. Was her organic brain messing with the computers?

"Alphabet. I am L," he told. "Call me Ryuzaki."

"I am Witiko," she repeated, introducing herself. L couldn't help but smile a little at this.

"Can you search answers on the internet, Witiko?" he asked, curious. He hadn't been informed by Watari if this were built in with her computers, but it would make sense that she did. Of course Watari added this feature, there was no reason not to.

"Yes."

"Brilliant. Then can you tell me; when is the next full moon?" he tried to keep his language slow and with as few words as possible.

"In twenty-four days, there will be a full moon. On September 13, there will be a solar eclipse," she recited what she'd found online.

"Thank you," he said, moving on to what he really wanted to test.

He took an empty teacup from his desk, showing it to her, "Alphabet. Cup," he said, also finger-spelling it to her. "This is a cup. Now," he set it on the floor in front of her. Her head moved and the camera took a picture. She was very happy to see this object, "pick it up, Witiko."

Her computer made a quick buzzing noise in response. She didn't understand that command.

He picked up the cup, signing "pick up." Then set it down and spelled it.

"Pick up," she repeated as he held it up. "Set down," she said, him setting it down with the cameras taking it in wildly.

"Pick up, Witiko."

Her arms moved to hold the cup in her hands, and she observed it with a mass amount of curiosity. He watched her with the desire to smile. Her robotic fingers held the cup in both hands, and it shattered under her pressure. L stepped back immediately, he'd considered this possibility, and he knew she held sensors in her fingers to know how much pressure to hold on certain objects. He hadn't taken in the fact that her computer might overreact at the noise and feel.

There was a quick, shrill beeping inside her, resembling an alarm clock. He took the cup away from her, brushing the shattered pieces off her "hands." She continued to beep though, a red flashing accompanying this noise next to her camera in a small circle.

"Power down, Witiko," he commanded, but quickly stopped himself knowing she wouldn't understand. She buzzed once more in response.

He'd been given batteries from Watari, and he went to retrieve them, but as soon as he did, she powered down anyway from her battery dying. It'd already been over an hour with the robot.

He sighed, not recognizing how much stress the noise of the beeping put on him until now. He sat down, pulling out the places where the two cellphone-like batteries would go, and he placed them in. She lit back up.

"Ryuzaki," she recognized him.

He let out a steady breath, "Hello, Witiko..."

* * *

What do you think the word was that amused L? I like to think it was, "wenis."

i'M KIDDING BUT STILL


	3. 1: The Mystery: DARK HERE

Though the ravenet hadn't become accustomed to having an artificial version of his best friend following him around like a puppy while he tried to complete tasks, he didn't mind it as much as he predicted he would have. Her voice was soothing sometimes, and yes, it was odd, but her voice was so much like it used to be. It soothed him so much, he could've fallen asleep after the three day mark of his regular insomniac filled routine.

His schedules had been changing because of... her, as he'd been told to refer to _her_ by. He'd purposely set himself away further by placing the word "it" between them, albeit it worked for him, it was nothing a robot would pick up unless he'd told her about it. He made sure to keep this concept in mind, for it could be easily taken advantage of.

"Alphabet. Witiko shuts down every hour due to lack of power," it had been the twelfth time he'd told her that today, because each time he did, she'd somehow forget it. It was a small piece of information, but if something important he gave her in the future slipped up like that, there would be a major issue. This was exactly why he'd informed Watari and he had discovered a missing link between chips and neurons. Among that, he also changed it so that she would emit a sort of ticking noise, much like a clock. It was subtle, it took an over an hour to add in, and it calmed the empty hotel rooms of the boys.

Personally and obviously, L was irritated by the ticking, but Watari purposely exaggerated how long it took him to create it towards the boy. He'd keep his words to himself if he could, and even if he didn't want to; he respected Watari.

"I shut down every hour due to lack of power," she repeated. Her understanding of English improved rapidly across the first week of assisting him. It would be soon that he'd consider teaching her another language. "Got it."

L dipped his head down, turning towards the computer screen at what she'd said. He could hardly hide the small smile of admiration at the way she picked up, "got it," from God knows where. He had no control of what she viewed on the internet or otherwise.

He heard a few shifting noises of Witiko's cameras, like she was trying to be silent. He smirked once again, considering what she could be doing that she wouldn't want him to see. It was troublesome to know he couldn't see any facial cues that would regularly be obvious to him. He focused on her two cameras sitting inside her "skull" of metals and plastics. They went back and forth quickly, but only between three spots like human eyes.

L brainstormed the possibilities. Something she was to keep a secret to herself only (she was learning fast from the boy himself, it seemed).

 _It's her "eyes" that are going in between set points; that's what she's viewing..._ L pressed his thumb to his lower lip, another thought popping up among the others about the advantage that she couldn't see him because of what she was so focused on. _It would be easy to ask her what she was looking at, she doesn't have that well developed emotions. While she's not so complex, she could still set a password over information and not allow her own self to access them. Though it's far-fetched, it won't be long until she comes to these realizations... Her cameras are still going back between three spots, one on the upper-right-hand-corner, the other on the left. There's one between them, but set lower. This means she's going back between three different pages._

 _But, what if they're not pages at all? Are they images, she's viewing? If it were, she'd save them and have them memorized. They must be changing for her to put such a focus on it. Videos change constantly, though it would be odd for her to be viewing three at once unless they were connected._

Quickly, it clicked in his mind. _Obvious_ , he thought to himself, _she's gotten into the security footage. There are only three security cameras Watari managed to set up and get into._

L turned back to his desktop, clicking a few things as if he didn't come across the knowledge. If she wanted to keep things from him, she'd have to try harder than that. Not more than a minute passed before he spoke upon his deductions, "Witiko, why are you viewing security footage?"

She was startled at the mention of her name so abruptly, her cameras focused on his face as fast as they could. She couldn't see or pick apart the emotion on his face. She would be truthful because she didn't know what else there was to say. She buzzed in response.

L turned his head, eyes flicking around the room as he came to different conclusions, _Has she caught on that fast? She blocked herself from information to keep secrets?_ He looked at his friend, _No, it couldn't be possible considering she doesn't have well developed emotions. She doesn't understand panic, she doesn't understand fear, she doesn't understand lying or jokes._ She didn't understand how he knew it, that had to be it.

"You're viewing security footage without any instruction to do so, is something wrong?" he tried again, awaiting the answer curiously.

From the corner of his eye, he saw a flicker on his monitor's screen. He suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. Watari insisted on connecting her to his computer, like a printer or phone. Meaning she could show what she found to L by putting it onto his screen. The three pieces of footage began playing from the start, then skipped automatically to a specific place Witiko wanted to show him. It rolled smoothly, in a definition that was high-quality, above most's standards of simple videos. It was a segment that was prerecorded, the time in the corner telling him it was from nine in the morning of today.

The few thirty minutes that L had allowed himself to sleep while working on a case. The same time Watari had specifically left for the kitchens to prepare food for later in the day. No one was aware of security footage in the "early" hours.

No one knew that a woman was walking quickly around L's tense, crouching body in front of the computer. His eyes were shut, ears perking at every little noise, which there was barely any of. The woman was silent, small and thin, no shoes, no coat in this weather at all. She browsed through papers and files around him, Witiko following behind her without a word. She said nothing, just curiously observing.

If L were one to be dramatic, he'd have gasped.

He quickly turned to the files around him, each paper was in the same spot he'd specifically left them in. There was no difference other than that he knew someone was there by the tiny black mark on one paper, smeared, the woman tried to blend it away with her blank fingertips, only leaving a barely noticeable dot.

"Witiko," he turned to her, a sort of frustration bubbling inside him that he couldn't show. "Alphabet: when meeting someone new, do not give them any information that you would normally give to me. Do not speak of cases I'm on, do not speak of past experiences, do not speak of yourself or myself a under professional or personal view unless I give you the words 'dark here.' Do you understand, Witiko?"

Witiko took a few seconds to process this, cameras not moving, and she buzzed at his sudden complex instructions.

He sighed, rephrasing it slower and easier for her to understand, and she saved these words in a special file under his alias.

"Ryuzaki..." a voice came from his computer. Watari had come to the same conclusion as he did right then.

"Watari," the young man stood from his seat, Witiko watching. "Someone's here."


	4. 2: 505, She's Taking Over

Never had L ever been tricked.

Not once in his entire childhood or career had he'd been tricked by someone. He'd been trained to be skeptical; a _major_ skeptic. With time, his brain took over the training and crossed the line where skepticism should end. He'd become paranoid with the idea of being tricked, of being in the face of danger when he didn't do it on purpose. His mind ticked like a bomb, he could never hear his own heartbeat, much less the beat of others. It was the one thing he always missed at, no matter how focused the shot was, the arrow never struck the target when it came to others placing him in danger. His toes curled at the thought and his lips ran along his thumbnail with his eyes wide. And he sat back, staring at the wall, a coffee aftertaste willowing away as minutes struck by rhythmically. His mind ran a million miles a second, which was common, it was just that this time, there was a sense of dread holding back the logic with a pressing grip.

There was also a sense of curiosity.

How could she have gotten past security, gotten past cameras and surveillance? Did she do it as if it were nothing? L wound around the same question multiple times: How did she know his schedule? How long had she been watching until this very moment, following them from hotel to hotel like a parasite... clinging onto him...

He could look at someone for a few solid seconds, even if it were the back of their head, and he could gather little bits about them here and there, he could add them up, and when they turned around, it would be exactly what he expected. He would be correct in his theories and ideas, nearly every time. He could tell things about them by their posture, hairstyle and their hygiene, the quality of their shirt (are they wearing it backwards, with confidence, is it one of their only shirts, a favorite?), hairs on their clothing (do they live with anyone? female or male? do they have pets? how do they take care of them? if there're pieces of fur on the back of their shirt, what does this tell about them? what if it's around their feet?), going down: belt, pants, sometimes he could tell the brand of them, even to the underwear. His eyes wandered wherever, taking anything possible in; what about accessories or lack thereof? What does all of this say about someone? The combinations were endless.

The detective took a look at the footage once more, deeply set into his seat with knees protecting his vitals as he watched with a flicker of horror behind his eyes. What could he tell about this woman? The footage was high-quality, close, he could zoom in and it wouldn't ruin the definition, it would enhance it. There were countless possibilities. But this woman? Where was the evidence on her that told him what he needed to know? From psychological perspectives (the way she picks things up, views them, moves, walks, stands, wears her clothing, wears her hair) to physical evidence on her...

It didn't matter how many times L went over it. There was absolutely nothing.

Who was she?

Witiko made a beep beside him, signalling a new case that had been requested. This went off around every ten minutes at this point. While he'd shut her off, he made sure notifications would still sound off (She would be too bothersome when active).

She began beeping multiple times at once, tick by tick, little noises going off again and again like little flies buzzing around his head. He gazed over at her. She was still as ever but unleashing an unnecessary noise that ruffled his thoughts and ruined his mood (as if it had been good beforehand). L clicked into a tab of secure emails and it refreshed automatically as soon as he opened the tab.

Unread Messages (20)

Not surprising, five messages from one email at once. The rest were waiting for him to read over from the morning that Watari approved of. Why would he approve of five at once? Unless they were all different while still being from the same person. He felt uneasy as Witiko continued beeping, he refreshed the page with a breath and a click.

Unread Messages (220)

A shiver went up his spine. This had never happened before. _It wasn't even possible_. Watari managed emails anonymously, no one would have a reason to send so many unless they knew who they were being sent to. No one could get past any of their security, they were holding emails and information in safely without a single risk. So someone managed to get past Watari's eye and send the mail straight to L?

He refreshed it once more.

Unread Messages (505)

Witiko went silent suddenly. They stopped at 505.

Thoughts were whirling around L's head as soon as he read this number. What significance did it hold? Could this be some kind of trap? If he opened one of the emails, would his files be destroyed? Would his monitor be blank? Would his computer be wiped and stolen? All of the information he held between multiple computers, discs, drives, and files?

Should he open those emails? Just one? In his state of internal panic, he nearly clicked on it. The robot powered on before he did, and her ticking started up. L felt a creeping feeling go up his spine once more. He almost opened it...

Something was very wrong... Why... did she power on?

L immediately stood up, choking not to call out for Watari at the realization. _Trapped_. Whatever bits of his heart he held onto all sunk into the pit of his stomach and he found himself unable to move, unable to breathe. He held his head up with shaky fingers at his side, his chest growing colder. Witiko's metal head turned upwards with a flick of motion, and her cameras twitched. He was in the blind spot of her cameras.

... _Why couldn't he move?_

As soon as her head began moving, he did too. He crouched behind his desk and wanted to hit his head so it'd go back to thinking. He took a breath and silently held it in as he heard her wheels begin moving around the room slowly.

And echoing in his mind: _Think_...

His eyes went wide and he bit down on his nail.

The entrance to the room was approximately sixteen feet away. He could make that distance in four-and-a-half leaping strides. With her taking... thirty... thirty-three seconds to move a distance of six inches, he could easily escape without her noticing. However, with her entire body and mind being taken over by the woman, there was no stable estimate. There was no doubt she was pushing Witiko to move faster, but her organic brain was pulling away from it since he hadn't said the phrase "dark here." Could the woman know their phrase already and be trying to use it, though? Could she have been using Witiko to watch over him this entire time? Did she know their secrets?

Was having Witko around him safe? No, a better question would be: _is Witiko safe?_

No. She was being taken over by a woman who has shown the ability to hack into and access any little detail of his that was vital to him. It was her every intention to hack into his own mind and take over.

Within his thinking, her voice was accessed and spoke willingly:

"Alphabet, she can't access my files."

L's heart dropped again ...Was this another trap? Was Witiko still alive in there?

There was only one way to tell. Witiko would never show complex emotion. _Alphabet_.

It was the idea that they had created a bond between their times together. It was the idea that they both shared the word _Alphabet_ as a memory; as something with sentiment and with meaning that had developed automatically and naturally; as something to hold in their hearts. As if it were their secret little phrase. Their secret little code that only they knew and they cherished that fact. But there was something off.

They were robots in different ways.

Neither of them held true hearts.

"Alphabet..." he said slowly, taking in a breath. The previous cold was growing across his entire body in sweeping movements, "Witiko is dead."


End file.
